The message late Thursday evening on Tareon Simpson’s online baby registry page was short and to the point: “Baby Xa'vier arrived on May 10, 2012,” it noted.
But earlier in the day in Hamilton County Sessions Court – where Ms. Simpson was scheduled to appear and testify Thursday morning against the man accused of trying to have her killed for $200 – nobody had a clue she was busy having a baby.
When she didn’t show up, prosecutor Lila Statom granted the request of the attorney for Carl Edmound Parks Jr. that solicitation to commit murder charges against his client be dismissed.
The unexpected turn of events could be the final chapter in the saga of the one-time couple, whose relationship turned ugly after they broke up in February and began trading insults and threats via text messages and social networks.
Their story went public after Parks announced on Facebook – where he calls himself Carltino Moneygang Parks – that he had “200 on this lil dirty (expletive deleted) head," and Ms. Simpson got scared and contacted police.
According to an affidavit of complaint filed in Sessions Court on April 30, Hamilton County sheriff’s detectives went to 8450 Refuge Lane in Ooltewah on Feb. 13 to meet with Ms. Simpson about the alleged threats.
“She said that she had known Mr. Parks for about a month and that they were dating,” officers said in the affidavit. “Ms. Simpson said that she broke up her relationship with Mr. Parks yesterday, 2/12/2012 . . . (and) alleges that Parks began to send her threatening text messages saying things like ‘I’m going to kill you.’ ”
Ms. Simpson said she deleted the text messages, officers noted.
According to the affidavit, “Parks then on 2/12/2012 posted a series of messages on his Facebook page: “Really think I am finna kill dis (expletive deleted) . . . Got 200 on this lil dirty [expletive deleted] head. ... Any takers."
An investigation began, and earlier this month Parks was charged with solicitation to commit murder and jailed with a $250,000 bond.
Thursday, however, Parks’ attorney revealed that his client likewise had been threatened; further, he showed prosecutors copies of text messages sent by Ms. Simpson to prove it.
Ms. Simpson was not present to tell her side of the story, and the case against Parks was dismissed long before the announcement explaining the reason behind Ms. Simpson’s absence from court was posted on the Tareon Simpson registry at Target, the site where she had listed gifts she would like to receive for her baby.